Anti-pipeline group goes another round with Sunoco Logistics

(Lebanon) — A citizen’s group opposed to Sunoco Logistic’s natural gas pipeline project in West Cornwall Township is challenging the company’s latest zoning filing regarding upgrades to a pumping station.

Concerned Citizens of Lebanon County has filed an appeal challenging a building permit issued May 7 to Sunoco by the Lebanon County Planning Department for structural improvements to a pumping station on Route 322 east of Butler Road.

If that sounds like déjà vu all over again, it is because this is the second go-round between Concerned Citizens and Sunoco over improvements to the pumping station, which have already been completed and are part of a massive repurposing of the company’s 300-mile Mariner East 1 pipeline from an east-to-west liquid fuel pipeline to a west-to-east natural gas pipeline.

On May 14, West Cornwall Township Zoning Hearing Board rejected the group’s appeal of permits first issued to Sunoco in 2014 by the county Planning Department, which enforces the township’s zoning regulations.

The appeal was rejected on the grounds that the permitting issue was moot because Sunoco had surrendered the permits.

The surrendering of the permits happened earlier this year when Sunoco was in the midst of zoning battles with West Cornwall and townships in 14 other Pennsylvania counties regarding the $3 billion Mariner 1 East project that when finished would transport natural gas from the Marcellus Shale region of the state to its refineries in Marcus Hook.

Sunoco Logistics had initially attempted to resolve its multiple zoning issues by filing a petition before the Public Utility Commission which would have exempted it from local zoning ordinances.

Before those hearings occurred, however, Sunoco dropped the PUC petition application and surrendered its permits, stating it had resolved its local disputes either by changing the design of the project improvements or coming to agreements with the municipalities.

There was, however, a procedural glitch in Sunoco’s attempt to surrender its original permits to the county Planning Department, prompting the second permit application that Concerned Citizens is now appealing before the West Cornwall Township Zoning Hearing Board.

When Sunoco attempted to surrender the permits the planning department balked because there is no mechanism to allow that in the manufacturing zone ordinance, explained planning Director Bob Sentz.

To resolve the matter, Sentz said, Sunoco applied for new building permits under the section of the zoning ordinance that applies to public utilities.

“They talked about surrendering the initial permits but that word does not appear procedurally in the zoning code and we refused,” Sentz said. “So they wanted their permits reissued under the township zoning ordinance that mentions public utility exemptions, and secured the permits. They are the same structures authorized under a different section because of their public utility status.”

That brings the matter back to square one and demonstrates the continuing disregard of the law by Sunoco, the county and the township, which are not safeguarding the public’s safety, according to Pam Bishop, spokeswoman for Concerned Citizens.

As before, the group’s latest appeal contends the county and township failed to hold conditional-use hearings to gather public input prior to issuing the permits allowing the company to build structures enclosing a pump and power distributor.

“The public never had a chance to have a conditional-use hearing to attach conditions of safety, noise conditions, and other conditions to make the site a lot more amenable to citizens who live near it,” she said.

The latest permit application change is another example of Sunoco either not following the rules or changing them as they go, Bishop said.

“Someone should hold Sunoco responsible to follow the rules that apply to every other land developer,” she said.

A retired attorney who argued cases before the PUC, Bishop also questioned Sunoco’s status as a public utility.

“We don’t know what they are,” she said. “We know what they claim to be but they never proved it to anybody, so we had no choice but to appeal the second permit. They still haven’t complied with the rules everyone else would have to, if they developed land.”

As a further example of Sunoco’s disregard for following the law, Bishop noted the county recently refused to return its $90,900 performance bond for the pumping station project because it did not comply with the land-use development plan, including building a larger stone pad than originally designed.

Sentz confirmed that the performance bond was not returned because several steps to reduce and account for storm water run-off, such as planting adequate vegetation were not completed.

Sentz dismissed the notion it was a major problem, however, adding that the company has been cooperative and was not sanctioned for it.

A spokesman for Sunoco Logistics would not comment on Concerned Citizens’ latest challenge. But communications manager Jeff Shields did defend Sunoco Logistic’s status as a public utility and its intention to complete the pump station project as required.

“Sunoco Pipeline is a public utility corporation as recognized by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (Sunoco Pipeline is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sunoco Logistics),” he stated in an emailed reply. “Regarding the performance bond, we are working to fully address the county’s comments that we received. We’re confident that will be done in the near future and that the bond will be released at that time.”

---

This article comes to us through a partnership between Lebanon Daily News and WITF.